Last Reflections
by bwayphantomrose
Summary: Erik and Christine's thoughts as they part for the last time. Oneshot. Stage musical based.


**A/N: I own nothing. A rare oneshot from me. Stage-musical based.**

**Drop a review and give me your opinions!**

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She knelt down next to him. "I want to stay." she whispered. She had to stay. For Raoul's sake, just as he'd ordered her to do. She had made her choice for him.

He cried and pushed her away. "Please…go with him… I could never… you belong to him…"

She hesitated, her tiny hand curled around a simple, silver ring.

"I want to stay." she repeated.

.

_Christine, Christine, what are you doing?_

_I love you, you know. Perhaps that does not excuse my actions, and perhaps you do not believe me, but I just need you to know._

_Now, leave me! This hurts too much, my darling. Love is too cruel. You are right in front of me and I can hardly restrain myself from reaching out and gathering you in my arms for one last touch… one last kiss._

_I love you too much. You'll destroy me if you stay. Such irony! My only redemption is also my destruction. I cannot allow you to stay. And you do not want to stay._

_._

He looked into her eyes for what he knew would be the last time. Her eyes were soft and comforting, filled with tears, just like his.

He watched her look at the band he had so lovingly placed on her finger. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Had he really done it? Had everything really happened? Or was he caught in some miserable dream?

But surely, if it had been a dream, his subconscious would have woken up as soon as his angel had been approaching him, her lips in offering…

She stared at the ring for a moment longer and then took it off.

He felt his whole world crumble as his dark heart split right in two.

She held it out.

.

_Why are you doing this to me, Erik? You know I cannot stay, even if I want to. How could we be happy down here? Don't you understand how unattached from reality you are? You are like a dream to me, never normal. That's all I've ever wanted, Erik: normal. Something normal, something solid and dependable that I can lean on._

_See, everything has always disappeared on me. Mama, the sea, Father, my voice, and now you. I need something—I need someone to stay._

_._

She held out the little ring as his arm rose uncertainly to reach for it. Their fingers touched, and he flinched.

"I love you." he said.

Her heart shivered. How long it had taken him to utter those words! Feelings she had not even thought about in her innocence, feelings that he'd had the whole time. He was always offering his heart and she had been too blind to take it; now, when she offered hers, it was too late.

She had crushed his heart. Why would he accept hers?

.

_Leave, darling. I have told you the truth now, all I've ever wanted you to know. You are leaving anyway, aren't you? Yes… I do not want you to see me like this. This is too much for me. To be touched by the woman I love—did you know that was the first time anyone ever touched me willingly? The first time anyone wanted to make physical contact with my skin—with my face!_

_I am falling… you have to go, Christine, before… before I can hold myself together no longer… you must… I need…_

_._

He watched her walk away.

He felt—numb.

He felt nothing.

He would have liked nothing more than to stand there for eternity, dreaming about the few seconds of bliss she had granted him.

Yet, he had to leave as well. They were coming for him. He was going to die, oh yes, but he wanted it to be on his own terms, his own way—everything had always been his way, hadn't it? And he certainly did not want to die now, while the taste of his angel was still fresh on his mouth.

He turned to his throne. Yes, that was a majestic place… He would make his exit there.

His final curtain call. His last act.

.

_Goodbye, my angel. I gave you that ring back along with my love; a fantasized, ideal love that we'll never have. I am not worth missing. But you are worth everything to me._

_I would never be brave enough to say this, but I love you too._

_May I be selfish one last time and ask for you not to forget me? I will think of you every day for the rest of my life, I promise. I promise you. I promise._

_And now… it's over…_

_._

Christine looked behind her one last time. She could hear music in her soul, the last notes dying away where she could keep them locked up, for the rest of her existence.

She felt peaceful.

She felt complete.

--


End file.
